Chapter VII

The hunt wasn't the only thing on my mind. Last weekend Finn and Olivia, his girlfriend, came to visit. We hadn't seen each other for a couple of months now. Our breakthrough discovery was a good reason to meet up and discuss our current progress in real life. We ended up talking about Sara instead.

Three years ago I broke up with my last girlfriend. Since then I have had casual hook-ups. The OASIS made the demand for quick fixes bigger than ever. I would just walk into a dating room for the Vancouver area, where users used realistic avatars, but had their faces blurred.

Saw something you liked? Click to see personal preferences. Still interested after seeing the other person's freaky kinks? Shortlist him or her and wait for a match. Normally that only took a couple of minutes.

All players had a rating based upon reviews from the past 18 months. I was quite proud to have 4,4 out of 5 stars. After ten reviews, others just got to see the rating was based on 10+ scores to avoid slut shaming. I could still see all the 17 recommendations I had.

I scored high on "meets expectations" and "personal hygiene", but really stood out for having my own place. No meeting the parents, roommates or doing it in the back of cars and dirty alleys. Unless that was requested. Cons? "Talks too much", "very vanilla", "adequate, but forgettable".

It was purely a form of physical maintenance. The hook-ups were short and there wasn't much talking. Both parties probably had their mind elsewhere. Their centaur role play, plastic doll fantasy or worse, a Disney princess.

Finn met Sara five or six times now and actually seemed impressed that I got a girl like that interested in me.

"You don't still think she's a fat dude?" I wondered.

"With that temperament? No way. Maybe a really short dude."

"So what do I do? Romance a cartoon figure, propose a video call, save for a plane ticket?"

"Whatever feels right is right, you know. If the rumors about that new hardware are true, OASIS love is going next level real soon. You're lucky you get to experience it," he grinned and nodded to Olivia, smoking a cigarette on my balcony. "I won't be allowed to dip into that kind of stuff."

Dating Sara was amazing. I took her with me to personal favorites like the Cocoanut Grove. A night club in Classic Hollywood where we listened to Nat King Cole and partied with Ava Gardner, Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara. We had to leave when Errol Flynn tried to steal my girl and started succeeding at it too.

Our relationship was clearly evolving. I learned she dropped out of college when her grandmother died four years ago and since then was living at her parents', spending more time than ever in the OASIS, often getting in an argument about that with her father.

Her family were immigrants from Venezuela, both parents worked hard to climb the social ladder in Argentina's capital. Her grandma had been a big influence. She lived with her family and practically raised her. Her faith was more of a tribute to her deceased abuela than anything else.

Part of me knew I should encourage her to go out in the real world more. She was young and lived in a sprawling town where you could still eat, drink and dance without a vr-headset. Another part of me was scared she eventually would realize that herself.

Meanwhile there was a certain tension building up between us. We were in that stage of a long distance relationship where sexual innuendos became more common each time we spoke.

I had invited her to Tamriel, the world of The Elder Scrolls. A fantasy universe that evolved into one of the biggest franchises of the 21st century. They just remastered Skyrim for the latest hardware and I spent quite some time revisiting the planet.

When Sara arrived in orbit I summoned her to Vivec, a mystical but lively place that had a Venetian vibe to it. My date materialized before me, but I barely dared looking at her when I noticed her latest outfit.

She was wearing something that contained so little fabric, you could barely call it a bikini. They were just a couple of lavender patches of cloth covering just enough not to get banned from this family-friendly planet.

"Do you like it?" she asked, spinning around for me.

I could never admit being turned on by a cartoon figure in a skimpy outfit.

"Ha," Sara laughed. "A Gunter gave it to me, said I looked like a chick from this eighties film Halliday jerked off to. Ice and Fire? I think it suits me. Also, the stats are surprisingly good."

A quick search in a private tab resulted in the 1983 animated movie Fire and Ice. A fantasy film in which a 15 year old princess, Teegra, desperately needs to be saved from evildoers. The minor runs around in a "microkini" the entire movie.

"Hmpf," I replied. "He was right about the resemblance. But you don't strike me as the girl that needs to be saved by some He-Man cosplayer riding a dragon."

Sara started laughing.

"Are you jealous?" she said, poking an elbow in me. "Si, you are jealous!"

"Did you date him or something?"

"No, I only met her once. You know I don't care about secret eggs. Just liked the outfit."

"I guess I do too."

She smiled and pressed her body against mine. Sara told me it was the only outfit she had that matched Tamriel's lore. I doubted that.

We walked along the canals of Vivec, watching street artists and merchants. Other players were bumping into buildings turning their heads at my date. I wanted to switch to a private instance, but she would probably notice and make fun of it.

Sara liked the place. The alien architecture and guards in their golden armor were a pleasant surprise for someone that expected hobbits in another dime a dozen medieval town.

"Maybe I should play too," she said. "You think you could like me as a dark elf?"

"You could be a hairy dwarf and I'd still like you," I answered, pulling her towards me.

I expected a kiss, but got an insecure look, I never had seen her like that before.

"I have an idea for our next date," she said with unsure eyes. "Maybe you would like to come visit the Anne Bonny's Revenge tomorrow?"

This was a big deal. The date I agreed to, made my heart race for more than one reason.

Anne Bonny's Revenge was the sailing ship Sara commandeered on GAOP. A planet located in the "popular history" zone. It's name was an abbreviation for "Golden Age of Piracy".

The players on GAOP were very serious about their pirate role-play. They demanded a certain level of realism from all participants. No Peter Pan stuff, and definitely no zombie buccaneers, ghost ships and gigantic witches.

I knew Sara played on that world a lot. And I had no problem imagining her as a bloodthirsty, unforgiving pirate queen. In fact, I often did imagine it. Sara with golden hoop earrings, black leather boots...

But what made my heart pound in my throat, was that I had no idea what Sara looked like on GAOP. Even though the creators allowed all the cliches like peg legs, eye patches, treasure maps and planks that needed to be walked, they would never allow avatars that looked like cartoon figures. It would break the immersion.

That meant I was going to see someone different. Maybe get a glimpse of what Sara really looked like.

In any case, she would be more human than ever. And while the idea of seeing a Disney princess naked was the reason we never went beyond a quick peck on the lips, a realistic avatar would change things. Radically.

Another reason I was getting so nervous had nothing to do with nudity. GAOP - for realism sake - was a world where dying meant losing all your stuff, going back to level one in the OASIS.

I maxed out my avatar a long time ago, still I never visited PvP world with perma-death. Even if it was quite the achievement to actually die on those worlds. Normally you'd get some warnings and the option to yield or use an emergency exit or whatever.

Playing until your avatar really died was a choice you consciously made. Something that basically only happened to thrill-seekers or those playing for high stakes. The people that bragged about the times they died.

To me it sounded like a big hassle, starting all over in the OASIS. Half of the players in the simulation experienced it last year, including myself. It was almost like having to restart life itself. My Thunderbird 4 was gone, my private recording studio, clothes, quest items and most important: the Pokémon I grew attached to.

Some of these belongings could be insured and I had these back-ups in place. Still I considered the perma-death a relic of the past, something that should've been changed a long time ago. There were even petitions about it that were presented to the new owners of the OASIS. So far that didn't change anything. If you didn't want to die, you'd better stay away from certain places.

I was overly cautious about it. Most people would just wear enough protection to make a run for it when they found themselves in a bad situation. But I just stuck to peaceful worlds. Single-player planets, or places where people fought alongside each other against NPC's.

Luckily I had some spare cash thanks to the renewed interest in Pokémon. I bought a fancy pirate outfit, including five pistols for protection. I hid four of them inside my long coat, two on each side. The fifth was a pocket side arm I put in my right boot. They were the best arms I could get in the early 18th century.

Although cutlasses were more popular on GAOP, I decided to buy a master-crafted rapier. I went for a more musketeer look than the classic pirate outfit. My finishing touch was a wide-brimmed hat with an extravagant plume.

After a lot of consideration, I decided not to change my avatar's appearance. It was already a pretty realistic human and inspired by my true self. Just a bit slimmer, taller, a stronger jawline and more defined cheekbones. Maybe my simulated eyes were a bit brighter too. Other than that, just me being me.